For kick and country: the 2010 VIVA World Cup and sport as a site for expressions of alternate ‘national’ identities

Abstract

The VIVA World Cup is an alternative football tournament for groups unrepresented in international sport, including groups that identify along political, geographic, ethnic, and linguistic lines. This study of the 2010 edition, held in Gozo, Malta, examines the organizers' insistence that their event is political and the ways in which the 'national' interests of participating groups challenged this position. While the VIVA World Cup could offer participants a site for resistance, the footballers in Gozo asserted cultural distinctiveness and celebrated affective attachments not to protest the exclusivity of world sport, but so that they could join in too.

‘We can!’ – women’s football in the Occupied West Bank

“…Thus, this paper highlights the lives of female footballers in a non-state (or incomplete-state) nation, too rare in sport studies (Field, 2014;MacLean & Field, 2014). In the case of Palestine, there is potential for a reorientation of our understanding of some important elements of this incomplete state, for challenging the conventional gendering of organised sport, and for recognising the authentic sense of agency achieved by the female football players central to this study.…”

“…Women's football in Ramallah with reference to female agency, Israeli occupation and FIFA Sport arguably plays a crucial role in the construction and confirmation of national identities (Hobsbawn & Ranger, 1983), cemented by the regular and far-reaching visibility of major international sporting competitions held between nation-states (Field, 2014;Iorwerth et al, 2014). As a result, the idea of an 'imagined' national community seems like a reality during international sporting competitions (Hobsbawn, 1992;Iorwerth et al, 2014).…”

Skiing and divergent ethnic identities in the multiethnic Northern Norway

“…In about 2000, Sámi sport also became an important arena for asserting that Sápmi belonged to the international society of indigenous peoples. Through the Viva (Football) World Cup (Field, 2014) and through participation in the Arctic Winter Games (AWG) in North America, self-understanding of the Sámi as an indigenous people was strengthened (Pedersen, 2011, pp. 62-65).…”

Sport as a Facilitator of Positive International Relations

“…Sport is used by nations to establish and reinforce national identity (Field, 2014;Gorokhov, 2015;Lenger & Schumacher, 2015). Regardless of a country's agenda to promote nationalism through sport, good can come from national participation in international sporting events.…”

“…As a shared international activity, sport can promote goodwill between nations through interactions (Tomlinson & Young, 2011) that form friendships, loyalties, and bonds (Darnell, 2010;Darnell & Black, 2011) that are developed among persons representing different nations. A mutually beneficial sharing and understanding of culture between international sporting event host nations and guests, results from interactions (Canavan, 2016), which can reinforce national identity (Field, 2014;Gorokhov, 2015;Lenger & Schumacher, 2015), yet also create positive impressions between persons across nations. If global citizens maintain an open mind and optimism, sport, as a facilitator can, in fact, enhance international relations.…”